College admission has been my career for almost eight years, but prior to jumping onto this side regarding the desk, I invested two years being a high school counselor in my home state of Louisiana. I was never ever formally the school’s ‘college therapist,’ so I was spared from having to compose hundreds upon a huge selection of letters of recommendation. But during those two years, because of my role as moderator associated with learning student Council, I was able to get to know a range seniors have been going right through the admission process. I am sure will leave a great number of students dissatisfied, confused, and questioning our judgment, a particular meeting with one of my favorite Student Council members is fresh on my mind as we prepare to mail out decisions regarding our scholarship decisions, which.

For the sake of this tale, let’s call him Scott. Scott was the superstar of our school. He had been Class President every year during senior school, he had been the pep rally emcee, and if I were to continue listing all their accomplishments, I would go well over the word restriction that this weblog allows. To top it well, he was just an incredibly likeable kid. We surely got to know Scott real well for so much of what our Student Council was asked to do since I relied on him. Scott had the last period of our school day off, in order my time was winding down, he would often come by my office to hang out.

One day, with a few months left in his senior year, Scott arrived by looking as bummed out when I had ever seen him. He shared with me which he had been denied admission to their top choice college. To make matters more serious, one of his best friends, who he had planned to room with on campus, had been admitted. I didn’t really know what to Scott to greatly help him out. In ‘counseling school,’ we learned that sometimes, the most readily useful approach to giving advice to somebody who is depressed is not say anything at all, so that is what used to do.

When I was driving home, it dawned on me that this rejection ended up being probably the first time in nearly four years that Scott was denied one thing. He had been chosen for each leadership position, each club, and each team that he sought out during senior school. And now, he was told ‘No’ by a college. Any of us in Scott’s shoes would respond the way that is same after several years of success we were suddenly confronted with what seemed just like a failure.

The opportunity to receive a scholarship, I would bet that many of our applicants feel like Scott did on that day some seven years ago after pouring through hundreds upon hundreds of applications during our scholarship review process, and having to deny so many terrific students. My amazement at how much our applicants accomplish during their high school careers is matched by my disappointment we can’t make it work for all of them. It’s the unsightly truth of our process, and of any competitive admission procedure, for that matter.

But let’s go back once again to Scott for an instant. Three years back, he was visiting Los Angeles, I got together for dinner so he and. He’d just graduated from university, where, to no surprise, he previously once again be a frontrunner on the campus community, albeit at a campus that was not his first choice school when he was a high school senior. And I also’ll remember what he said when he told me personally that he hadn’t gotten into the graduate system he was hoping for: ‘I’m not concerned. We’ll eventually figure it away.’ What we discovered in that moment is compared to all the great things Scott discovered since he left school that is high the best of all had been the ability to deal with rejection. He did not become an epic failure like he might have felt when he had been denied from their fantasy school, in which he had grown up so much in just a few short years.

So at this time when our scholarship decisions have gone many of you feeling a glum that is little we hope Scott’s story provides some comfort. Rather than harping on the increased loss of a scholarship, try and focus on the opportunities that still lie ahead. shmoop essay paper You might not understand it now, but there are more out there than you may possibly imagine.

Photo Diary

March is just a pretty awesome month. Month Spring is right around the corner, we are wrapping up decisions on thousands of applicants and it’s my birthday! We know it’s tough waiting to hear back from us and we have discussing how to stay busy during this time. On time while you all are waiting for us to send out final decisions, we are putting in long hours to get everything out to you.